A Wisconsin mother and her boyfriend are facing felony charges of child neglect and false imprisonment after her two sons were allegedly locked in a “horror” home for years.
Katie Koch, 34, and Joel Manke, 38, were arrested after her two sons aged seven and nine were seen running down a suburban Milwaukee street naked and covered in blood and faeces on 13 July.
Neighbours contacted authorities after they saw a woman “violently drag” the two boys back into the house, according to WJDT.
The children “were acting like cavemen, like they had never seen the sun before,” one neighbour told the CBS affiliate station.
Officers from the Milwaukee Police Department said they discovered “a terrible hoarding situation” when they entered the home on South 71st St. Ms Koch allegedly “began putting a diaper on a child”, they said.
Ms Koch has been charged with four felony counts and two misdemeanors of child neglect and false imprisonment. Mr Manke is charged with four felony counts, according to WDJT.
Milwaukee County Assistant District Attorney Mallory Davis said the children had been “essentially confined to their room for much of their lives” during a court hearing on Monday.
“It’s really terrible; it’s like something out of a horror movie,” Ms Davis said.
The children’s bedroom door was locked from the outside with a latch, and the windows were boarded shut, she said.
Joel Manke, 38, is facing felony child neglect and false imprisonment charges after his girlfriend’s sons were found covered in faeces in their Milwaukee home— (Milwaukee Police Department)
“I have finally been able to view videos and photographs of the home and I can tell you that almost every inch of their walls was covered in human faeces.”
Ms Davis said the children's heads had to be shaved because their hair was matted with faeces.
“These children have been horribly damaged from their mother's actions,” she said.
“They are completely uneducated. They are not potty trained, even at their ages. They are, essentially at this point, unable to function in society.”
Mr Manke told investigators he had lived at the home since 2007, while Ms Koch moved in about four years ago, WDJT reported.
According to a criminal complaint, Mr Manke said he knew the boys were not being treated well but had to pick his battles to avoid fighting with Ms Koch.
Neighbours said they hadn’t even been aware children were living at the property until they saw the boys running naked on the street last week.
“I’m not going to ever forget the way they looked when they came running out of that house – never forget that,” neighbour Chris Eder told WISN.
“The look on their faces was pure bewilderment. They were just looking all around. They could not – I don’t think they’d ever been outside before.”
A court commissioner set Ms Koch’s cash bail at $30,000. Mr Manke's cash bail was set at $6,500.
